001[Music] I love the school. Um the students are like really nice. Um the teachers they really positive and yeah like the teachers at my old school I never asked questions with my teachers and now at this school since my mom went here so I basically know all the teachers that's here. So now I can express to what I'm feeling and what I need to ask, [Music] my friends, you know. Yeah, cuz you know the education is pretty good. The the teachers are great, you know, but my friends is the best part. I like most about H Central is definitely the students, the people, you know, all the people I met uh since I've been here cuz I moved here uh middle school. So like the people have been great. I made a lot of memories
002since freshman year, uh sophomore year, all the years. You know, some days you going to have days where like you going to come, but like like the days I come like it get funner and funner as like I get in the older grade. But it's not it's not easy but like when you do what you got to do it become easy. So it's really just chill for me. >> It's good. There's never any like problems or nothing and it's always like good vibes. Everybody's like chill. [Music] I like the people. I like the community. I would definitely say it's fun. It's definitely creative. Like, you definitely don't know what you're going to get coming through the door every day. In a in a good way, though. Um um I would say it's safe. It's loving.
003Um it's definitely welcoming. >> The teachers the most about the school. Yeah. Say my experience is pretty good. I don't have any complaints. >> Okay. atmosphere is good here and there's there's good people here because um when she teaches it like actually makes me want to actually try the things she teaches cuz the way she she does it is uh so like inspiring to me nation let's rock Hey, [Music] I love the school. Um the students are like really nice. Um the teachers they really positive and yeah like the teachers at my old school I never ask questions with my teachers. And now at this school since my mom went here so I basically know all the teachers that's here. So now I can express to what I'm feeling and what I need to ask,
004[Music] my friends, you know. Yeah, cuz you know the education is pretty good. The the teachers are great, you know, but my friends is the best part. I like most about H Central is definitely the students, the people, you know, all the people I met uh since I've been here cuz I moved here on uh middle school. So like the people have been great. I made a lot of memories since freshman year, uh sophomore year, all the years. You know, some days you going to have days where like you don't want to come, but like like the days I come like it get funner and funner as like I get in the older grade, but it's not it's not easy, but like when you do what you got to do, it become easy. So, it's
005really just chill for me. >> Good. There's never any like problems or nothing and it's always like good vibes. Everybody's like chill. [Music] I like the people. I like the community. I would definitely say it's fun. It's definitely creative. Like, you definitely don't know what you're going to get coming through the door every day. In a in a good way, though. Um um I would say it's safe, it's loving. Um it's definitely welcoming. >> The teachers the most about the school. Yeah. Say my experience is pretty good. I don't have any complaints. >> Okay. The atmosphere is good here and there's there's good people here because um when she teaches it like actually makes me want to actually try the things she teaches cuz the way she she does it is uh so like inspiring
006to me. >> Go Nation, let's rock. Hey, [Music] I love the school. Um the students are like really nice. Um the teachers they really positive and yeah like the teachers at my old school I never ask questions with my teachers. And now at this school since my mom went here so I basically know all the teachers that's here. So now I can express to what I'm feeling and what I need to ask, [Music] my friends, you know. Yeah, cuz you know the education is pretty good. The the teachers are great, you know, but my friends is the best part. I like most about H Central is definitely the students, the people, you know, all the people I met uh since I've been here cuz I moved here uh middle school. So like the people have
007been great. I made a lot of memories since freshman year, uh sophomore year, all the years. You know, some days you going to have days where like you going to come, but like like the days I come like it get funner and funner as like I get in the older grade, but it's not it's not easy, but like when you do what you got to do, it become easy. So, it's really just chill for me. >> It's good. There's never any like problems or nothing. There's always like good vibes. Everybody's like chill. [Music] I like the people. I like the community. I would definitely say it's fun. It's definitely creative. Like, you definitely don't know what you're going to get coming through the door every day. In a in a good way, though. Um um
008I would say it's safe. It's loving. Um it's definitely welcoming. >> The teachers the most about the school. Yeah. Say my experience is pretty good. I don't have any complaints. Okay. atmosphere is good here and there's there's good people here because um when she teaches it like actually makes me want to actually try the things she teaches cuz the way she she does it is uh so like inspiring to me nation let's rock Hey, [Music] I love the school. Um the students are like really nice. Um the teachers they really positive and yeah like the teachers at my old school I never ask questions with my teachers. And now at this school since my mom went here so I basically know all the teachers that's here. So now I can express to what I'm feeling
009and what I need to ask, [Music] my friends, you know. Yeah. Cuz you know the education is pretty good. The the teachers are great, you know, but my friends is the best part. I like most about H Central was definitely the students, the people, you know, all the people I met uh since I've been here cuz I moved here on uh middle school. So like the people have been great. I made a lot of memories since freshman year, uh sophomore year, all the years, you know. >> Good evening. Oh, good, good, good. Good evening. Welcome to our uh regular school board meeting Tuesday, September 23, 2025 and to our virtual audience. We welcome you as well. Our meeting is going to be a little change here. We're going to have our own junior ROC post
010our colors and offer our pledge of allegiance. Let's stand guard. Color guard carry color. Color guard. Forward. March. Color guard. Hol. [Music] cut face. Color guard. Prem. >> I pledge of allegiance >> to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for it stands. One nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. >> Color guard order arms. Faith. Color guard. Right shoulder. Arms. Color guard. Forward. color guard order on fall out. >> Mr. Selena's second moment of prayer. >> Thank you. Everyone, if you could please remain standing for a moment of silence. Thank you. You may take your seats. Thank you. >> Let's applaud our junior ROTC. Thank you very much. Roll call. Trustee Guierra >> present. >> Trustee Candelera >> present. >> Trustee Blake King present. We do
011have a quorum. We can move forward. Mr. Selenus. >> Good evening community. Uh, good evening school board members. President Blake King. At this time, I would like to call forward Major Christopher Bonds and Commander Okmpo, who's going to share a little information regarding our JOTC and our outstanding students who, by the way, have had a very long day. They've been with us since early this morning at our breakfast. Uh, welcome, Major Bonds. >> Welcome. >> Thank you for that, uh, Superintendent. Uh first just um I appreciate the superintendent, the pres school board president, the school board, the parents, the community um for allowing us to be here. Um my name is Major Christopher Bonds. I am the senior army instructor at Hammond Central. This is my second year. And one of the things that I
012would like to say is that um I appreciate and I thank the um board and the superintendent and the parents in the community for entrusting your children or your young adults uh to the Gerald TC program and also to him in Central High. Um the one thing that I've always told the students is that um in my years of uh my 27 and a2 years that I spent in the army and after I retired, I told them that I decided to give back to the community and come in to teach uh GRTC. And the one thing that I did not come here to do is to babysit. And let me preface that. And what I mean by that is that I'm serious about your young adults and their success and them being adequately if not
013beyond adequate prepared for real life and what they plan to do in their level of success. So I just want to say thank you for the opportunity and I will not let you down. >> Thank you very much. >> Good afternoon school board and attendees. I would like to formally introduce myself. I am cadet Marco Aelio Okamo and I am the battalion commander for the Hammond Central High School Army GROTC program. First and foremost, I would like to thank Superintendent Anthony Selenas for the unwavering support he has brought to our program and give given us the opportunity to be able to continue showcasing our program. We are very grateful and thankful for this great opportunity you have given us today and hopefully it can be the first of many schoolboard meetings our color guard can
014post and retrieve colors for. Secondly, I would like to thank president president of the board, Miss Carla Blake King as she is another great engine of support for our program. Our program is actively a huge student based organization whose main mission is to teach the youth to become better citizens. One big misconception is if you join JOTC, you will be entered automatically into the military, which is false. Our program, although military formatted and structured, does not recruit into joining the military. However, if chosen, there are huge opportunities and financial benefits, especially if you are seeking post-secary education. Currently, our battalion holds 160 cadetses and has an extensive amount of training and opportunities to participate in leadership. Coming up, we have one of our most important events of the year, that being our Jerot promotion ceremony
015named Wolfpack Night, where all 160 cadets stand in formation and await promotion to their new positions and leadership roles they have worked for. This will take place October 23rd at Hammond Central High School. We will we welcome those who are interested to attend and take a look at what our cadets have been working hard for. We will also be extending formal invitations soon. We also help in our community in major in-house events like our Thanksgiving mission where our program helps and feeds families with a full Thanksgiving dinner where we provide everything from the turkey to the sides. Last year we fed 20 families and this year we're aiming and hopefully to achieve 30 families. Another huge event we do in order to help our community is our mission Christmas where we select a shelter in
016our community and around and we donate goods such as clothing, toiletries, and any type of necessities they may need. Last year, our program donated to surgeon and truth house and like I stated with the whole purpose of becoming a better citizen and helping our community. I want to take this time to invite everyone to get more familiar with JOTC and showcase the great leadership that is being built in our very own community. I will also like to showcase my command sergeant major who was present in posting colors, cadet Camille Tomo, who is a great leader and who is in charge for our wonderful color guard that you are seeing in displays in our communities. Please feel free to continue seeking information regarding our program alongside with opportunities to help and assist the community in any
017other events. We thank school city Hammond for the great support shown in our shown and our Hammond central administration for the support to allow our program to become such an important entity of our school. Once again, thank you superintendent Selenas and president of the board of plate king for helping and keeping our JTC successful. Thank you so much. >> Yes, sir. >> Thank you, Major Bronze and Commander Okmpo for that outstanding presentation. Um, please go home and get some rest now, young people. You have had a very long day and I know you guys all day with us and we appreciate your attentiveness and your leadership. Thank you very much. At this time, I would like to call up uh Mr. Carl Cinder who will be presenting our monthly uh financial presentation. Mr. Cinder. Thank
018you, Superintendent Selenus, members of the board. Good to be with you again tonight. I'd like to kind of highlight uh some items in our financial report. So if we uh go to the year-to-ate summary of major funds education fund, we started the year at 13,584,827. Receipts year-to- date 62,367186. Year-to- date expenditures 53 million uh 655 802 ending balance at August 31 of 22,296 uh the debt service fund had beginning of the year balance 1,661,841 receipts year-to- date 10,074,713 year-to- date expenditures 14 uh million2254 411 ending balance on August 31st a negative 2,48857 I'll just pause a moment you know our property tax collections come twice a year in June and December and we're anticipating this will be a positive balance at the end of the year as you see in the projected balance column the
019operation fund started the year at 19,993,826 year-to- date expenditures 16,130 I'm sorry receipts 16,1307 year-to- date expenditures 16,607 946 ending balance on August 31st of 19,516187 the rainy day fund um began a balance at 6,297155 we have no receipts no expenditures yearto date so an ending balance balance of 6,297155. Our self insurance fund um began the year at 2,719604. Um year-to- date expendit or receipts of 10,342591 year-to- date expenditures 9,698 943 ending balance at August 31 of 3,363252. Um you'll see we have projected balances off to the right hand side for each of the funds. And I would say we're pretty on target for most of the funds. It looks like maybe uh we're dipping just slightly in the operations fund, but other than that, it looks like we're we're staying on course for what
020we were anticipating this year. Dropping down is our title funds. Um we have the title one, two, and three, and four funds. Uh the ending balance uh for each of these the 4205 was a negative -20643673 the fund 5805 a negative 6910412 fund 5806 a positive balance 36,529 [Music] >> fund number 6860 a positive balance $5,4564 4 cents. Um, fund 6861 a negative 1511 and fund 6862 a negative 2571984. You'll notice that we've had some improvement um in the our title funds and um in talking with Miss Pritchette um many of these several of these will be cleaned out by the end of the year. We still have some expenditures to turn in to um to get reimbursements for and uh there may be some closeouts that'll happen towards the end of the year. So
021um I know that that's something the board is keeping an eye on and so that's what we have for you. Uh just quickly going to the next several pages, we have some bar charts that are showing uh first for the um education fund. Uh the revenues and expenditures by month and you'll notice that um other than January, our expenditures have been under um what our revenues have been. So that's a good thing for our education fund. The next page, um, just tracking the operations fund. Um, as I mentioned previously, we receive our the mo majority of our, uh, tax dollars in June and December. So, in June, you had a big spike. Um, but otherwise, we're pretty on target. We have a little bit uptick here in August, but um, uh, we're so far, uh,
022doing well yet in the operations fund. uh the debt service fund. Um again, that's a little hard to to do comparisons on a month-to-month basis. Just the timing of bond payments often are made in January, June, December, uh July, and December. Uh so again, we're anticipating having a positive balance when we get our property tax money at the end of the year. And then we're just kind of tracking um the cash flow. I'm not going to spend a lot of time but uh looking actuals through August and then kind of tracking projecting September, October, November, December >> and just kind of coming up with projected balances based on our historical >> receipts and revenue and expenditures. So with that, I'm happy to answer any questions on the financial report. Just basically could you just share
023with the with the community what was projected in terms of a loss from state funding for the next three years? >> Well, that that's something that we still need to kind of work on. We know Senate Bill one enrolled act one is going to they're implementing new um standard deductions for for residential as well as for rental properties and that the impact of that is going to be reduced property tax revenues um for us reduced AV meaning higher circuit breaker credits. There's also the uh tax credit up to $300 that homeowners could be entitled to and you know that's a pretty significant jump over the next four years. Um fortunately it's being phased in so we have some time to work with that. >> Okay. >> And I I would like to see us engage
024further in doing more projections of those circuit breaker impacts. um you know the we're still subject to the general assembly on the education fund as to how much they're going to be allocating and so we need to again keep our eye on monitoring uh what's happening there. Um we don't have a good crystal ball yet, but uh we need to stay tuned for for further reductions. And of course uh we're sharing some of our revenues uh with charter schools, which we have been, and that continues to also impact us as well. >> So for this year, I think we're positioned well yet. Okay, >> it's really looking forward and I think that's when um we want to do some further analysis and and have further budget discussions as to how you know we have a
025few years to kind of work into that but it's unless the general assembly changes you know we're going to be facing with some tougher decisions down the road. So >> thank you. >> All right thank you. >> Any other questions board members? Thank you very much, [Applause] >> Mr. Selenus. >> Thank you very much for that presentation, Mr. Sender. At this time, we are at our first period of public expression. Trustee Kendall. >> Public expression. First period limited to items on the agenda. First member is going to be Anita Cox. Good evening trustees and acting superintendent Selenus. I'm not going to get through my statements, so I'll finish it on the second um part of the comments. Uh I'm a teacher at Hammond Central High School and a member of the Hammond Teachers Federation. My
026comments are mainly directed at the personnel report. I approach you as an advocate for our students and our teachers. I feel I have a moral obligation to speak up when I see wrongs that are not being addressed adequately, but I know that they could be and they must be addressed if we are to restore and elevate our school city. Please know if I say something that offends anyone, that is not my intention. The start of the H start of the year at Hammond Central continues to be dysfunctional. I thoroughly appreciate the effort and additional hours our building administrators have put in to fill the roles of counselors, teacher leadership league directors, and curriculum director, all while working to meet their duties as principles as well. I often fear for their health because I know that
027the pace they are trying to maintain is unsustainable. I also know that the responsibilities placed on teachers and support staff are also unsustainable. It is September and I, like many others, feel like we are running on a treadmill going too fast while juggling three 15lb bowling balls. The class loads of over 200 are not unusual. Along with class sizes that are over 35, which include an unprecedented amount of students with extra needs for no apparent reason, after working years to p perfect their craft, some highly qualified teachers had their classes replaced with ones they've never taught. Some teachers have been given new subjects to teach with little or no background, little or no curriculum, books, supplies or guidance even after repeated quest requests for help. We should not depend on principles, instructional coaches and department
028heads to provide curriculum. That job is extremely timeconuming and complicated. Let's talk about the word unsustainable. It means we cannot maintain this level of pressure for much longer. When working conditions are unsustainable, people leave, which is the reason why the school year continues to be so difficult. Counselors repeatedly asked for help and repeatedly said their duties were unsustainable, but nothing was done. And look what happened. Teachers as well did the same. And look what happened. If you don't believe me, asked to read their letters of resignation. It wasn't the kids or the principal. It was unsustainable working conditions. I want to elevate instead of deflate this district. I believe you do too. And I hope that you hear the people who work directly with students and listen to your employees. If we ask for a
029teacher handbook, please approve one. If we ask for class sizes under 28, even though research shows that 18 is optimal, please commit to that. If counselors ask for a 1 to 250 student ratio, please try that. If we ask you to retroactively pay teachers who started as subs because of delays in their licensing due to no fault of their own, please pay them. They are not only teachers but their coaches and sponsors as well. We cannot afford afford to lose those people. Please help them feel valued. [Applause] Next member, Wanda Pucket. Uh, y'all can tell me if I'm overstepping my boundary. Uh, I sit back and I watch the news. We need teachers. But I understand that we is cut in every state. Teachers battle with this school system. Raises would not be given out.
030Ain't no money. We don't have the money. They cutting everything from us from special ed to the teachers pay. Come on. Is a cut straight across the board. And I already know it cuz I look at the news and I watch it and I pay attention to it. You going to have to wait at least two, maybe three years for a race. If y'all sit at home and watch the news, what the governor is telling us, it's going now. Y'all asked for this. We did. I know I didn't, but y'all did. The ones that vote. We are going to lose a lot of teachers because we do not have the money to fund the teachers pay. The races is going to be Look at the new it's it's there in black and white straight across
031the board. They cut everything from us. So what are we supposed to do? Work two jobs three. And I'm going to tell you like this here. If you got a nice big backyard, you better play in the garden back there cuz you know like I know going in going to the store oxtail is $25 for one pack. We all got to eat. So, let's come together and do something. Maybe go down to the governor, talk to him. See what they can do for us. Cuz we need our teachers. We don't need no sub in the classroom. We need teachers. And let's try to hold on tune. That's all I had to say. Next member, Dr. Spangenberg. >> Good evening. >> I sent signed in on the wrong line. Miss Pucket was supposed to go after
032me. So if that pops up on the next comment period, maybe we can we we tried to make arrows and it didn't really work very well. Um but hopefully that can be accommodated next time. So looking at the financial report and then also looking at the past several things have been scattered throughout the past several personnel reports. It gets difficult to kind of understand what the rationale between certain decisions or behind certain decisions is and how it relates to certain hiring practices. because, you know, as prior commenters have said, you know, we're very concerned about being able to hire instructors and things of that nature. The education fund is looking pretty good, but it seems like part of the problem is that the operations fund uh is not looking so great. And the issue that
033I'm concerned about because I I see a lot of positions that seem to be being created and then people being transferred into those positions coming out of the operations fund and then I wonder okay are the positions that they're leaving being eliminated because that doesn't seem to be the case necessarily. And when you see that kind of thing and you're wondering, okay, where is the $1.5 million shortfall going to come from at the end of the year, transferring that level of money out of education fund obviously is not going to help us hire or pay fairly our teachers. Um, but the other problem is too is that if that's not the way things were budgeted at the beginning and let's say if in the past there were a number of positions eliminated, you know, not
034just operation fund ones but others as well and then they're just being reintroduced, but let's say they were eliminated by a board action. I'm curious about how they could be reintroduced without a board action. I'm curious about why somebody seems to have the ability to spend beyond what's being budgeted without any notification to anybody. um and how we go about addressing that because obviously at the end of the day when we're hearing these kinds of concerns about teachers, we have to wonder, okay, why is the focus over here on seeming to increase operations spending when the focus needs to be on making sure that we're providing and making sure things are coming out of the right fund, too. um services, direct services and instruction for students and teacher support. Thank you. >> Thank you. >>
035That concludes everyone written in for first session of public expression. >> Our next agenda item is unfinished business and currently there is no unfinished business. So we will move on to the approval of the minutes. Trustees, we have minutes to approve. Approval of executive session minutes for August 5th, 2025 and executive session minutes for August 19th, 2025. Do I hear a motion? >> Madame President, >> Trustee Candelera, >> I move for the approval of the executive session minutes dated August 5th, 2025 and August 19th, 2025 as presented. Second. >> It's been moved and properly second by Trusty Guierra that we approve the executive session minutes for August 5th and August 19th, 2025. All in favor say I. Any questions? >> Any questions? All in favor say I. >> I. >> Opposed? Eyes have it. Um
036item C and D under minutes. Uh, we need the approval of schoolboard minute meeting minutes for August 5th and schoolboard meeting minutes for August 19th. Do I hear a motion? >> Madam President, >> Trusty Caneler, >> I move for the approval of items C and D, the approval of schoolboard meeting minutes, August 5th, 2025 and August 19th, 2025 as presented. >> We have a second. >> Second. It's been moved and properly seconded by Trustee Guierra that we approve the schoolboard meeting minutes of August 5th and August 19th of 2025. Any questions? Any questions? All in favor say I. >> I. >> Oppose. Eyes have it. Trusty I mean um Mr. Selenas. >> Absolutely. Our next agenda item is the approval of the consent agenda. Trustees, uh, what is your pleasure for consent agenda items A
037through F? >> Madame President, >> Trusty Canelera, >> I move for the approval of items A through F as presented. >> Second. >> It's been moved and properly second that we approve the consent agenda, items A through F. Are there any questions? >> Discussion. Accounts payable voucher register dated September 23rd 2025 consist consisting of 407 pages. I would like to read it into record. For claims we had a total of 3 million 36,311 with 61 cents and then we had for payroll 4,726,978 with 17 cents. Thank you. >> Thank you Trusty Kenneler. Are there any other questions? All in favor say I. >> I >> oppose. Eyes have a consent agenda approved. >> Mr. Selenas, >> the next agenda item is the approval of new business. >> Item A, approval of IDHS secured school safety
038safety grant 2026. Uh, m Mr. Selenas, could you expound on that for us, please? Uh I believe this is the a grant submitted by uh Mr. Right. Uh Suarez. Yes. For uh approval of the uh grant that is going to help us uh finance a few salaries and also the uh uh officers in our buildings to keep our buildings secure. >> Great. And it's in a total of $92,500. Thank you, Mr. Dash. Thank you very much. Trustees, what's your pleasure to hear a motion? Madame President, >> Trusty Kendalla, >> I move for the approval of the IDHS secured school safety grant 2026 as presented. >> Here a second. >> Second. >> It's been moved and properly second. Is there any questions? Any questions? All in favor say I. >> I. >> Opposed? Eyes have it.
039Item B, approval of agriculture academy grant for Edgars Middle School. Mr. Mr. Selenas, please. This is the Agricultural Academy grant for Edgars Middle School. This is a grant that will assist with tower garden projects in Miss Kennedy's class. The grant amount is $736. >> Thank you. Trustees, do I hear a motion? >> Madam President, >> Trusty Guierra, >> I move for the approval of agriculture academy grant for Edgars Middle School. >> Second. It's been moved and properly seconded by Trustee Candelera that we approve the agricultural academy grant for Edgars Middle School. Any questions? I would like to just thank Mrs. Kennedy. She's been working hard, very hard and uh completing that project. Thank you very much. Uh all in favor say I. >> I. >> Any oppose? Eyes have it. Item C, approval of HF
040Acorn grants for Morton High School. Mr. Selenas. Yes, this grant is uh being approved for the amount of $5,000 for college and career and $1,500 for practical Chinese. And if I'm not mistaken, the college career amount is going to be split between both high schools for the purpose of uh trips and opportunities to college and career um events. Is that correct? Okay. Thank you. >> Thank you very much. Trustees, what's your pleasure to hear a motion? Madame President, >> Trusty Candelera, >> I move for the approval of the HEF ACORN grants for Morton Morton High School as presented. >> Second. Do we have a second? >> Second. >> It's been moved and properly seconded by Trusty Guierra that we approve the HF Acorn Grant for Morton High School. Any questions? Any questions? All in favor
041say I. >> I. >> Opposed? Eyes have it. Item D, approval of agreement with Purdue University Northwest work study program. Mr. Selenus, please. >> So, this is an exciting opportunity. We are going to be partnering up um with Purdue University Northwest under the leadership of our elementary director, Dr. Denise Eisman. These are going to be students who are going to be paid to be tutors with our students in the school city of Hammond. So, the money, their salary will come from the university. We in essence become their boss. And so we get to make sure that they uh fulfill the duties of their contract. But these are college students that are going to be uh again part of a work study program. They'll be studying college courses, but part of their job will be to
042tutor our students here in the school city of Hammond. So it's a win-win situation for all of us. >> Thank you, Mr. Selenus. Trustees, what's your pleasure? Do I hear a motion? >> Madam President, >> Trusty Candela, >> I move for the approval of the agreement with Purdue University Northwest work study program as presented. Do I have a second? >> Second. >> A second by Trusty Guerrero. Are there any questions? Any questions? All in favor say I. >> I. >> Any opposed? Eyes have it. D is approved. Item E, approval of food 25 school purchasing co cooperative contract. What's your pleasure? Uh, trustees. Madam President, >> uh, >> Trusty Guerrero, >> I make a motion for the approval of food to school purchasing cooperative contract as presented. >> There a second. >> Second by Trusty
043Candelera. It's been moved and properly second. Are there any questions? >> Discussion. >> Can we have Mr. Selenus explain a little bit more about this? >> Thank you. >> I understand. Yes. Um, I will do my best, but I believe our food service director is in the audience. If I need no help. Um so when supply challenges arose after Stan's food service merger the school city of Hammond joined the foodtoschool purchasing cooperative through the department of education ensuring uninterrupted nutritious meals for students. So basically we had an interruption in the u supply that we were going and our uh >> food service director Linder approached me and said that we needed to act quickly to make sure that there was not an interruption to our food services for our schools. So she made the decision
044to join the cooperative uh group >> and the contract amount is not to exceed four million. >> I'm not sure about that. Lindster is there. >> Excuse me. Unfortunately, the vendor that we had closed their doors on Friday. >> Okay. >> So we had to find another vendor. So we had the state opened up the co-op for us to join. >> Very good. Thank you for your >> Yes. That was very proactive leadership on her part. Um because of her actions, there was no interruption in the food service to our students. >> Thank you. >> We've had discussion. Are we ready to vote? All in favor say I. >> I. >> Any oppose? Eyes have it. Item E is approved. Item F, approval of contract with Deborah Twitty. Madam President, >> Trusty Gary, >> I
045make a motion for the approval of contract with Deborah Twitty as presented. >> Second. >> It's been moved and properly seconded by Trusty Candela. Uh are are there any questions, Mr. >> Scott? Go ahead. You can explain. This is good news. >> I'd be happy to. Yes. I'm not sure if Mr. Seaman or Miss Twitty uh are in the audience or not. But uh Deborah Twitty is a retired uh employee and so special education has been unable to directly hire a qualified social worker to provide services. Contracting with Miss Twitty will keep us in compliance and negate the need to provide compensatory services at a later date. Miss Twitty provide will provide direct services, attend case conferences, meetings, complete required documentation for services, and provide any and other needs for social work within the district.
046she um was in retirement and uh did us a favor and is going to come back and help director Tim Seaman make sure we're in compliance with the our special education uh department. >> Very good. I understand this is the third person you convinced to come back out of retirement. Mr. Seaman, thank you so very much for your commitment to our special education program, our special needs program. All right, are we ready to vote? Uh do I hear a motion? >> Oh, we already done. Okay. All in favor say I. >> I. >> Oppose. Eyes have it. Approval of contract with Miss Deborah Tweety. Mr. Selena. >> The next item is the calendar of upcoming board meetings. >> Okay. Our calendar. Next Tuesday uh September 30th at 5:15 we will we will have an executive
047session and following that at 6 pm there will be a public work session. Uh you want to talk about the issue talk titles we're going to talk about? >> Sure. So um as trustee Blake King said next uh Tuesday, September 30th, we will be having a public work session where we're going to be reviewing our budget for our community. So that is Tuesday, September 30th, beginning at 6 p.m. a public work session. >> Thank you. And then on Tuesday, October 7th, an executive session at 5:15 p.m. And following that, we will have our regular schoolboard meeting at 6 PM. And Tuesday, October 21st, our executive session at 5:15 p.m. Following that, at 6 PM, we will have our regular school board meeting. And we know every third Wednesday of the month, we are on WJO
048School City of Hammond News. You should know. Um, we call it breaking news. School City of Hammond and we've had wonderful um presentations and supporting our students and applauding them for their efforts to make School City of Hammond 10 times better. That concludes our calendar. >> Our next item is our second period of public expression. Trustee Candeleria. >> Public expression second period regarding general matters. First member is going to be Jamaica Sawyers. >> Jamaica Sawyers. Good evening, board. Good evening, Superintendent Selenus. Um, I have a couple shout outs. These are peer-to-peer shoutouts. I'm just sharing them tonight. So, the first shout out is to Miss Crystal. This is from Mrs. Duckson. Thank you for all your help with my box on the Rainbow Project. Wow. >> The second shout out today is for Jen Christensen.
049This is from Mrs. Green. You are always so encouraging and helpful. I appreciate you so much. Our next shout out is to Mrs. Young from Mrs. Cwley. Thank you for making copies for the entire team. And our last shout out tonight is to Mrs. Don Cavell from Mrs. Cwley as well. And she gave her praise for helping with the field trip and fun guest planning. So, thank you to those teachers. And please, I'm encouraging the rest of my staff, please continue to do those shout outs. Those peer-to-peer um you know, compliments really helps. It goes a long way. shows that you guys are watching each other, having each other's back. So, thank you to my staff for all your hard work. >> Very good. That calls for an applause. >> Thank you. >> Next member,
050Anita Cox. >> Good evening again. Um, I left off talking about wanting to elevate instead of deflate the district and ask that you please listen to your employees. Um, I'm going to repeat what I said part of it earlier. Um, I asked if that if we ask you to retroactively pay teachers who started as subs the money that they lost because of delays in their licensing due to no fault of their own, please pay them. Those teachers have shown their commitment to school city of Hammond. They are not only teachers but coaches and sponsors as well. And we cannot afford to lose these people. Please help them feel valued. If we ask for supplies, books, and curriculum before the school year starts, please give it to us. If teachers ask to teach the classes they
051are experts in, please give them that. If we ask for an aid because the number of students in our lab-based class is dangerous, please give us one. If we ask for a later start time or to move advisory to the beginning of day, please do that. We ask this because 7:15 is simply too early. Multiple buses were uh late 13 days this month. Um, we ask that when agreements are signed that you meet the obligations within the agreement regardless of who signed it, if they're here or no longer here. And we ask that you restore the plan time we lost years ago. Good faith will elevate. Lastly, I ask you and anyone who can hear me to join me in Indianapolis at the state house on November 18th and demand that the $744 million taken
052away from public education be returned. On Saturday, state representatives from the Indiana Black Legislative Caucus caucus urged concerned citizens to call the governor and show up at the state house and rally. One eloquent eloquent legislator said, "Equity is our goal. Unity is the path." Thank you for your time. >> Thank you. >> Next member, Dr. Spangenberg. Okay, next it's going to be Wanda Pucket. >> Now, um Wanda, this is what I'm coming back for. Y'all know time is going back. It going to be getting dark in the morning when our babies be going to school. parents the bus stop there about three parents out there putting them kids on that bus and getting them off the bus. I need all parents to get on board in the morning and stand out there while your children
053is getting on that bus and getting off that bus. Too much going on now to send your little bitty babies out there to catch the bus with their older siblings. I need everybody. This is a community. We coming together. Walk our babies to the bus. Get them off. If I'm not out there, my daughter out there. So, we trying to keep our babies safe. It's too much. Kids, when you get on that bus, you have signed seats. Look for your name on that bus. You go directly to your seat and you sit there. You don't stand up on that bus until you get to school. You don't stand back up on that bus until you get home. And you make sure that bus is stopped so they can unload y'all off that bus. And parents,
054I know y'all sitting at home watching this. be out there with your babies cuz once that snow hit that ground and you know people the first snow they they don't know how to handle it you know it be sliding into us be out there that's all I got to say >> thank you >> next member Dr. Spangenberg. >> Thank you so much for accommodating that request. Um so looking back at some of the shifts that have been made um administratively I think because so many people were asked to wear so many hats sometimes in multiple locations which seems like impossible from a physics level right I worry hearing some of the concerns tonight if then at some point it's just impossible and then all of the brunt ends up falling on the teachers. It seems
055like teachers are also having to wear kind of multiple hats, do multiple roles, things like that. If there had been issues with like the licensing and substitutes who came through Kelly's services, it seems like any back pay that's paid to teachers, if it can be substantiated that Kelly services just fell down on the job intentionally or otherwise, it seems like legally those funds could be recovered. Um, and certainly, especially if we start to get operational stuff under control and don't continually try to expand beyond our budget in that area, it looks like the education fund could accommodate that on a temporary basis. Just looking at the limited amount of data that we have seen. Um, I am aware too that there was a a presentation, it looked like it was very extensive on iLearn. Um,
056and it seemed like there was a lot of information. It was very, very thorough. Um, I also had been very excited about the iLearn thing. I was really sorry to have missed the presentation. I've been very, very ill for a long time. So, I ended up missing a lot of things I was looking forward to, unfortunately. But, um, so, and I haven't had a chance to look at that yet. Maybe just sharing a few highlights that I had noticed from the data beforehand, too. Um because I think one thing that parents think about a lot is like how is it comparing to like local schools like all these numbers all these trends like when we look just at statewide it's not like we're just sending our kids to any schools in the state we're sending
057our kids to local schools and public schools are always under attack. So we always have to be making that case for yes public schools are doing what they're supposed to be doing. And so, um, I had been looking at, you know, the private schools, the charter schools, things like that. And, and hopefully I'll be able to provide more data next time as well. But I did notice that, for instance, Oannon outpour outperformed St. Cass and ranked second behind Hammond Baptist, which was really great heart and that was in um, I think uh, third grade proficiency. I want to say that probably was overall. Um, in math, Harding outperformed all the schools in fifth grade proficiency and tied with St. Cass for total percentage of math proficiency. I guess I'm going to have to share the
058rest at a later time and more data. Thank you. >> Thank you. >> That concludes everyone written in for second session of public expression. >> Now, superintendent. All right. Thank you everyone who came up to speak. Um we appreciate your comments during the first and second session. Um I do have several superintendent reports uh information I'd like to share. I'd first like to uh start off by um welcoming our new assistant principal at Edgars, Miss Molen Morris. Is she here in the audience today? [Applause] We'd like to welcome her to uh Hammond. She left us for a while, but she's back on the team. So, we're happy to have you. Thank you very much for being here. Uh, good evening, members of the board, staff, families, and community members. I'd like to recognize that we
059are currently celebrating Hispanic Heritage Month, which runs from September 15th to October 15th. This is a meaningful opportunity for us to honor the history, culture, and contributions of our Hispanic communities. We are proud to celebrate and uplift the voices and stories that continue to enrich our district. H as a reminder, the Hammond Hispanic Community Committee of Northern Indiana is holding their annual Latino Resource Fair this Saturday, September 27th. The time is 10:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. and the location is the area Career Center at 5727 Soul Avenue. So, we look forward to seeing community members at the event this weekend. During this time, we want to affirm reaffirm that the school city of Hammond's commitment to providing a safe, supportive, and welcoming environment for all students, regardless of race, religion, nationality, sexual identity, or immigration
060status. We remain steadfast in enforcing policies that prohibit bullying, intimidation, or discrimination, particularly towards students who are multilingual or born outside of the United States. To all of our students and families, you are welcomed, you are valued, and you will be treated with dignity and respect within the school city of Hammond. [Applause] On September 18th, the school city of Hammond was honored to participate in the City of Hammond job fair. I'd like to extend my appreciation to our human resources director, Mrs. Lata Smith, along with our HR specialists, Becky Abshshire and Daisy Hernandez for their outstanding efforts in representing our district. attendees um were easily able to explore open positions by scanning a QR code which is displayed in our kiosk here in the hallway as you enter our administration center and as a result
061we collected 32 resumes from individuals expressing interest in substitute teaching roles and we interacted with over 1,200 attendees. So please correct me if I'm uh wrong. Several of the candidates already hold degrees in content areas such as history and business management. They were provided with information from the Indiana Department of Education to help them obtain the appropriate permits for teaching. We're excited about the interest of shown in joining the school city team and look forward to continuing to build a strong pipeline for future educators. Uh, additionally, we um are going to be participating in the upcoming job fair with the North Township Trustes Office. So again, kudos to our human resources department for their efforts to try to attract and bring more talent to the school city of Hammond. This week also marks college goal
062week. It's an important opportunity for students across the district to explore college and career pathways. At the high school level, students are receiving guidance and resources on the college application process, financial aid, and scholarship opportunities. Meanwhile, our elementary schools are introducing students to the concept of higher education through spirit events and themed activities that will help them begin thinking about their future. As part of this initiative, the school city of Hammond will participate in the Urban League College Scholarship Fair at Indiana University Northwest this Thursday, September 25th, from 9:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. We are excited to give our students direct access to college representatives and scholarship opportunities and transportation has been arranged for our students from both high schools to attend this event. I'd also like to congratulate Burns Hicks Elementary Schools. Is anyone
063here from Burns Hicks uh this evening? They have been selected as the winner of the growing landscape courtyard makeover contest. This means that their courtyard will soon receive a full transformation into a vibrant and functional outdoor space that will enhance the learning environment for their students and staff. So, they entered a contest and they got selected to have their courtyard redone, which uh from what I understand, they may have furniture out there, awnings, even speakers to create an inviting outdoor space for the Burns Hicks community. So, congratulations to Burns Hix for that. Today, we held our first 10 times better together breakfast at the area Career Center. Although today was our inaugural event, we look forward to continuing this journey of restoring and elevating our district as we plan to hold many more events and
064opportunities for partnerships and collaborations with members of the community. I'd like to give a big shout out to uh Mrs. Carrie Mar Weekes, Chef Jack Velasquez, Mr. Jeremy Hicks, Mrs. Amanda King, our amazing Gerald TC culinary students, and our dedicated School City of Hammond administrators who helped make the event this event a success. Together, we are 10 times better, and we are just getting started. The following announcements are from Morton High School. So, Principal Wheeler, please correct me if I speak. Morton High School's National Honor Society partnered with the Red Cross for a blood drive on September 19th. There were 18 people who donated, which means that 50 lives were saved. We are proud of our students for leading this service project. Mortyn High School's Bible Club invites the community to meet us tomorrow morning
065at Morton High School for a flag pole prayer uh at 6:55 a.m. Is that correct? To 7:05 a.m. So, if you are an early riser, they will be at the Morton High School flag pole tomorrow morning. Uh the Bible club. MREN High School is also in need of volunteers to be part of our career day on Tuesday, October 14th from 7:15 to 10:40 a.m. Please come out to inspire students about various career opportunities. And before closing um our moment of silence this uh evening at the beginning of our board meeting was to remember uh Ruth Miller, a former principal and assistant superintendent who dedicated her career to students, staff, and families of Hammond. Ruth passed away um a few days ago. We want to thank her for her service, her leadership, and her legacy. And
066we ask that you watch over us from above. May you rest in eternal peace. Thank you everyone for being here this evening. And we wish you a safe uh evening. Trustee Blake King. >> Any trustees reports? >> I do. Bear with me. This is going to be long. Um my first thing I want to give some updates for um PTA. We're getting we are getting closer to reflections. Um the deadline is Halloween actually. Um so we have a little bit over a month. Um I love seeing the flyers on the doors when I go to the schools. Um so thank you to our building admins for supporting that. Um also couple things coming up. I know you mentioned it on WJO last week. uh the kindness project that PTA is partnering with the district on.
067Um we are should be sending out something soon. Um we are going to have a committee called the kindness crew. Um we're working on a logo and we should be sending like in the next week or so. Um we want more voices. Uh we want more people to be a part of it. Um we need some leaders representation from different um buildings. So, my building admins, if you have a parent or a staff member or somebody that emulates kindness that you see, um, send their name our way, please. Um, part of that committee is going to be something very, very exciting coming in January. I'm talking huge. I'm talking civic center huge. Um, bringing a lot of just awesomeness to our area. Um, and it's going to benefit benefit our kids. Um, so keep an
068eye out for that as well. We should be sending out some stuff about that in the next couple weeks. Um, we will also be looking for some opinions for some people um to participate with that as well. Um, and then I also wanted to um just give a couple shoutouts. Um, the ACC uh has been crushing it. The whole building honestly um from admin to I see the custodians are always on top of it. Um the clerical staff there is amazing as well. I know you mentioned Miss King. Um Chef Jack for his program. Um I know I see the media department um the media group crushing it. Um Miss Riser works really well with those kids on um promoting their program on on social media. So if you don't follow them, you you really
069should. Um the ACC TV page. Um, and couple groups that I really wanted to spotlight, I don't know if you follow the ACC page, if you don't, you should. Um, they announced that they are bringing back the Survival Live House. Um, our Yes, that deserves a very big round of applause. um are, correct me if I'm wrong, EMT and early education students are um realing that and I wanted to give a little tidbit that I learned. Um, I met with Miss Christine Small, who was the PTA Council president 40 years ago. Wow. >> In 1985, and she showed me a newspaper clipping. Um, something that I don't know a lot of if a lot of people knew or not. Um, but the PTA council actually had a big hand in starting the Survival Life House.
070Um the PTA council president at the time is Christine Small, the mayor and the superintendent at the time. Um she showed me a newspaper clipping of the ribbon cutting. Um so that's just a shout out to the power of PTA. Um the power of collaboration, teamwork, partnership between the city, the school city, the greater community. Um and and PTA plays a huge part in in bridging that gap as well. Um sorry, not used to talking this much. Um I also wanted to um highlight as he did the um the breakfast this morning. Um it was wonderful. If you've never had a chance to have those kids cook for you, they can cook. Um and it's not just cooking. and a couple of the kids spoke um about just their love for cooking and for showing
071their love through that um and being able to speak through the food that they create. Um I did want to give a special shout out and I know I'm sure she's got it on her. Um I'm looking at you. Um, our own board president was presented with a challenge coin from the culinary um, group. Um, Chef Jack presented her with this. And I don't know if you've ever heard of challenge coins. Um, the only time I've heard of them is in law enforcement. If anybody else follows Paul Goddard, um, I see him sharing these that he gets from different law enforcement groups. I did not know that other um professions do this, but apparently it is huge in the culinary world. Um Chef Jack said that they finally were able to create a challenge coin
072from the ACC culinary program and um they've been they've been given to some very well-known chefs. Um and our own very very own board president got one as well. So that deserves a round of applause. Thank you. for for supporting um our program and I'm going to shut up now. >> And uh you did attend the Indiana School Association fall conference. What was your takeaway from that? >> A lot. Um allin for all students. Um and just the amount. So that they had a keynote speaker um who used to be a or she might still be a broadcaster, sports broadcaster. Um and it was an interesting take um she saw people all over the world, but she was speaking to us as a parent and as a parent with kids in the district. Um she
073was saying how it was educators that got through to her child who has special needs. Um who he had thoughts at a very young age that we don't ever want to see kids at a young age have and I know we've seen a lot more of it recently um after co and she said that he is now I think 17 and thriving. Um he joined was it water polo? He had a coach believe in him and tell him, "Hey, you need to get your grades up. We need you." Even though not really, but it gave him confidence and now they really do need him. Um, and now he is competing nationally and worldwide. Um, so that just goes to show what we do matters. What we do is important. Um, every person, we can't we
074can't affect our kids without every single person, every single position. We need you. You matter. and we thank you. Um because even if we can just affect one kid, we we've done a lot. >> Absolutely. Thank you. Uh Trusty Gara, I'm going to be as brief as I can. Um Mr. Selenus, did you mention the parade? >> No, I don't think I did. >> Talk about that parade. Um I apologize. It has been an extremely long day. I know. >> Very long day. Um, so September 13th, was that the the date, Mr. Hicks? September 13th, uh, the School City of Hammond partnered with the, um, Hammond Hispanic Community Committee of Northern Indiana to march in the parade. And this year we had our JOTC students join us. We had our robotics kids join us. We
075had our mariachi band from Irving Dual Language Immersion School join us. We had several several parents join us. We had Trustee Gera join us as well. and we had several several uh teachers who joined us as well. So, we were in force and we definitely represented um we're very very grateful to be part of that event. >> Thank you. I know as we present our reports, it might be small to many of you all, but since May, we've been kicking butt, you know, and that's that's just the way I'm going to put it. We have done everything within our power to motivate our students, our staff, and anybody involved who wants to help School City of Hammond. This morning, that breakfast was so motivational, we had over 25 pastors and the Lakeshore Chamber that is
076willing to partner with us and put bodies in these buildings to help these teachers help themselves. We know you're struggling. We see your plight. And we're doing everything creative that we can think of to help you. We hear you. I hear you. And it saddens me that we can't do more, but we will be doing more because we are a team. And that is our purpose. Children first. We went to this conference and my takeaway was I am to leave this district better than I found it. And I mean that as long as I sit in his position and anybody else that comes before me, that should be their commitment. Mr. Selenas's commitment is that as well. He will leave this district better than he found it. Additionally, uh some of the workshops we had,
077they were talking about when we hire vendors moving forward, it might become a law that vendors will be paid that that is tied to what they do. They will be paid to student outcomes. Can you imagine that? How many times have I said, "I'm tired of paying consultants and we see no results. We see no outcomes." I don't. If they are, we don't ever get a report. But moving forward, we can very well be getting those reports if they wish to be paid. And that will be a big milestone for us in making sure when we spend 20,000 here, 30,000 here, 40,000 here on consultants that they are coming through for our kids and that is a big win. Additionally, uh the theme was all in for all students and uh and and that is
078us as well. You know, it's not going to happen overnight. You know, we we took a hit for the last four or five years, and it's going to take a more than a minute to fix it, but we are committed as a team to fix it the best we know how. And certainly, we know the cuts are coming. We don't know what the Fed's going to do yet. I'm holding my breath. When I watch TV and I listen to that secretary of education, whatever she call herself, I said, "Oh, Lord, what she going to say now?" She didn't even she she pronounced AI as A1. We in trouble in trouble and we realized that. So again, we're doing the best we can. So that's basically my report. Uh we've had a good good since May.
079You know, we really been rocking and rolling since May. And we appreciate our attorneys keeping our own on track because I mean, we've had some hurdles legally to to go over and we appreciate our attorney. We appreciate all of our staff. Miss Lopez, we double double her work, but she comes on through. Let's give her a big round of applause. We appreciate you. It's not easy. The media department, we're doing the best we can for our kids. So that wraps up my report. Anything else? Do I have a motion to adjurnn? >> Motion to adjurnn. >> So moved. >> Second.